A MAJOR blaze has broken out a Coventry school sending smoke billowing across the city.

Twenty fire engines and two appliances carrying hydraulic platforms raced to Sidney Stringer Community Technology College after the fire broke out.

Witnesses reported flames shooting through the roof.

Pupils would have just been leaving the building in Cox Street when the blaze started in a store room at 3.29pm today (Tuesday). Billows of smoke were seen across one edge of the city as smoke poured from the school.

Around 100 firefighters were called in to tackle the fire. The school will be shut tomorrow (Wednesday).

Police shut off nearby roads and an ambulance and an ambulance officer were placed on standby in the road outside the school. It is understood most pupils had left by the time the fire broke out.

* Dramatic pictures and full story in Wednesday's Coventry Telegraph - on sale from 6am.